After The Fire
by Thatianecgm
Summary: After "For Better or Worse". Beckett's reaction to what happened and a quest to find her future husband.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Castle and the other characters, I'm just starting to play with them.**

**I was watching "For Better or Worse" again and I decided that maybe it was time to write my first fanfiction. I needed to do something to comfort my heart. I wasn't planning on posting it, but my mother convinced me to do it.**

**As I said, it's my first fanfiction so please don't be mean with me. But give me your opinion about how I can improve my writing skills.**

**English is not my first language, so maybe there will be some mistakes, but it would be amazing if you told me what I did wrong because I'm learning this language.**

**Each chapter will have two parts. One on the point of view of Beckett and one on the point of view of Castle.**

**I solemnly swear that I will try to post frequently.**

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Beckett dropped to her knees crying and not believing in this nightmare. She was feeling as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She couldn't have lost him. She couldn't have lost her always, her lover, her babe, the love of her life, her one and done. But it is what just happened. It seems like they won't have their happy end.

How could it even happen? They had just talked in the phone. He had just said that he loved her. They were going to get married. And now he was probably turning into ashes in his destroyed car.

Any and all of the time of the world seemed to pass to Kate while she was there; looking to his burning car and thinking about all they had been through together and all they have done and would never do again. She couldn't and she didn't want to believe that she would never see his smile again, that she would never kiss or hug him again and that she would never be able to count on his help. They would never get married; they would start a family together.

She was observing without see the attempts of the firemen to finish with the fire. When they were finally done, she woke up from her trance and went to the car, crying even more, with a need to be sure that he was gone, that their future together was gone. Kate ran down the hill towards the almost destroyed car. She was already thinking about how difficult it would be to get out of the depression caused by his lost. She would sink into a pool of sadness again, like she did when her mother died. She knew it. This time she would not be able to overcome the loss of a loved person. And they had just put Bracken in jail. They would finally have a well-deserved peace. This thought made her heart ache even more.

Finally, she managed to open the driver's side door dreading what she would find there. She was dreading the sight of his body. But there was nothing but pieces of the destroyed car itself. If he burned to death where was his burned body?

Beckett couldn't believe. Her future husband didn't die in the fire. And for the lack of blood at the scene he was probably alive when he left this place. She almost screamed of relief but she managed to keep herself calm. She still needed to look for him. She HAD to find him. She didn't know where he was, but she knew that he needed her like she needed him in the week before when they were trying to kill her. And she would help him. She would always help him.

When she was actually sure that he was not there and that she would manage to build a plan to find him, Beckett yelled and told everyone that there was still hope. Castle could still be alive.

* * *

Castle wasn't feeling anything. He was partially unconscious. What had happened with him? The only thing he knew for sure was that he was late for his wedding with Kate. Oh, she will kill him. But why was he late in the first place? He was only twenty minutes away from the Hamptons house when he hung up the phone. She told him she loved him. He could still hear her voice in his mind. "Focus, Castle! You need to think! Why are you sleeping in... What the hell is this thing? Am I lying in a bed made of stone? And where the hell am I?" he thought as he slowly regained consciousness.

He had not opened his eyes yet. Why they were still shut? He finally managed to concentrate enough to open them. It was a hundred times more difficult than normal. He could feel his body now. But he would rather not have felt. He was feeling as if his skin had been cut by a million knives and then he had fallen in a pit filled with sulfuric acid.

With his eyes opened, Castle could finally see where he was. It was an almost empty place that looked like an abandoned factory. The only thing that was in there was the bed he was lying on. The bed wasn't made of stone after all. It was actually comfortable.

His wrists and ankles were tied by a rope and he wouldn't be able to untie it himself. When he figured it out, he started thinking about who would like to prevent his marriage with Kate. The first one he thought of was _Josh_, that stupid doctor she dated three years ago. But he wouldn't do it, would he? And he was in Amazon building hospitals where there wasn't, saving children and stuff, wasn't he? "No, it wasn't Josh. But if it wasn't him, who did it to me?"

Castle's conjectures were sudden interrupted by the sound of steps echoing in the metal floor. His heart started beating a lot faster than before. He would finally discover who had abducted him. But he couldn't see who was entering the room. He or she was hidden in the shadows.

"It has been a long time since we met the last lime, hasn't it?" Said the person going to a brighter part of the room.

"YOU? You did it to me?"

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**So, it was the first chapter. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, here is chapter two. I hope you guys like it.**

**I do not own Castle and the other characters.**

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Beckett went to the Hamptons house and changed her clothes: she would need the dress clean later. She didn't tell the guests what had happened. With lucky they could still have their marriage in a few hours. She didn't intend to take long to find him. Instead, Kate told all the guests that Rick had called and said that he needed her help with something in the city and that they wouldn't take long to solve the issue.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Esposito asked as he watched Beckett grabbing her coat.

"Yeah, I need to do that alone Espo" said Beckett looking for her car keys.

"Kate, this might be dangerous. You may need some backup. Ryan and I want to help. He is our friend." Beckett had found her keys and was already going towards the front door.

"Espo I know you guys can help me but I feel I need to do it alone. I'm feeling kind of responsible for what happened. I should've gone with him to the city before coming here." She had stopped with her hand in the doorknob. She turned around to face Esposito for the first time since the conversation had started.

"I will not accept any excuses…" He stopped when he saw that she had tears in her eyes "Kate it was not your fault." She was sobbing now "You couldn't know that this would happen. You needed to get ready to your wedding and that's why he offered to go there alone. He knew you take more time to get ready to him"

"Thank you Espo. But I can't help thinking that if I were with him he would not be in this alone" she walked to the outside of the house, cleaning her face, before he could say anything.

In the front of her car were Martha, Ryan and Lanie waiting to wish her good luck in her search for Castle.

"Oh, darling! I know you will manage to find him. If anyone can do it, it's you!"

"Thanks Martha"

"Beckett if you need any help don't hesitate to call. We will stop whatever we are doing to go and help you with it"

"I know you will Ryan" she was feeling the tears coming to her eyes again. Everything that happened in those 72 hours was really messing with her emotional."

"We will take care of everything here girl" said Lanie while she hugged her "Go and find your writer boy" she whispered this last part in her ear so no one but her could hear it.

"Thank you guys. I don't know what I would do without you." Kate said approaching her car

When she was almost entering her car to leave, Alexis came running:

"Kate! Wait! I want to go with you."

"Alexis it may be dangerous. Your dad would not want you to put yourself in danger because of him."

"Kate, he is my dad. I need to do this. I can't stay here while he is out there lost. And I can't let you do it alone either. You may need help and I can be your help this time when my dad is not here. He wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger either. And I know I am not the first person you would choose to go with you but I can be very useful this time. I've learnt a lot with my father. Please, Kate, let me help you."

"OK. You are right. If it was my dad I would want to help too. But you need to promise to do exactly as I say. I wouldn't forgive myself if anything happened to you."

After Alexis made her promise, the two of them went to the accident scene so they could look for clues that might lead to Castle. When they got there, Beckett wanted to look for objects that survived to the fire in the car. But before she could start looking to the inside, she found his phone dropped in the ground. She didn't believe she had not noticed it before.

She saved the fallen phone and began her search. The first thing she noticed was the smell of fuel. "So it wasn't an accident at all. Someone started the fire." When she figured that out she looked properly to inside the car. All that was there was burned. She recognized the shoes she had left in the back seat when they went to the Hamptons right after work one month before but they were destroyed. She managed to identify a book, maybe a copy of his last one, but it was also burned. There was nothing besides it. There was nothing that could lead to him. She left the car and started to look around for another clues.

While Kate was searching the car, Alexis was looking for clues in the road. They wanted to know if it was an accident or if someone else caused the incident. There were strange marks in the ground. Marks which indicated that there had been a hit between two cars and that Castle's car ran off the road. It looked like it had been intentional. Someone has made Castle lost control of his car.

Alexis knew her father wouldn't lose control of the car. He was always a good driver. But now they needed to find out who did it to him and why would anyone want to stop him to arrive to his wedding. And a good way to start would be to search for the car model based on the tires tracks and on the distance between them.

"Kate, I've found something", yelled Alexis when she saw Kate uphill.

"Yeah, me too", answered Beckett with a frightened voice and a terrifying look in her face.

* * *

Jerry Tyron himself was standing there looking to Castle in a predatory way as if he was a lion that was going to have his meal. He had a sarcastic smile in his face. He seemed to find it all a big joke. But Castle knew it wasn't. He knew he was in a pretty big trouble. A psychopath that already hated him had caught him alone in the worst time ever and he could not wait for help. No one was going to find him in this strange abandoned factory.

"Who else could it be? After all you did to me? After you have stopped me from disappearing? Don't you think I'd want revenge? There is no better way to get it. I've just stopped your wedding with that silly detective and now I'll kill both of you", said Tyson still grinning.

"Both? If you haven't noticed I'm the only one here."

"Obliviously, you're right. But your fiancée will soon join you in this lovely meeting", 3XK said in a mysterious tone, already living the room.

"What do you mean? Kate will be there? How do you think you will catch her in front of all our wedding guests? You will never manage to do it", Castle said trying to catch Tyson's attention but failing miserably.

Castle was left alone again but this time he was even more scared. It was Tyson who did it. The same guy that killed a lot of girls, the psychopath that almost caused his arrest because of a murder he never intended to commit, the crazy man that faked his death and cleared his criminal history so he could start killing again. And he was planning on take Kate there too. Castle would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

And even though Castle was frightened a lot he still couldn't think properly. He was still really confused about what had happened. He didn't know how Tyson brought him to this place. "Think, Castle. You need to think" he cogitated "What's the last thing you remember?"

The truth was that he had no idea. He needed to concentrate for what seemed over an hour to remember what had happened. "Ok, so I was driving to the wedding and… and I called Kate and I told her I had solved all the issues. I was twenty minutes away from the Hamptons house. But what happed then?" It was all foggy. He remembered a suspicious black car approaching his own car. And there was a crash. His car went out of the road, down the hill. There was someone wearing a black mask that didn't look as a man. He remembered the feeling of a needle in his back and he knew he had thought that she had some kind of experience with that. The last thing he could manage to think back was the strong smell of fuel and the feel of his sleepy body being taken to another place for much less careful hands than the ones that have given him the injection.

And all of a sudden he knew how Tyson would manage to bring Kate there. He had faked an accident with his car. And Kate would know it was faked. She would know he was in danger and she would come after him. She would look for clues in the crime scene and she would certainly find something that would lead her straight to this nasty place.

3XK was not going to catch Beckett and bring her forced to there. She would come willingly to try and save him. She would come directly to death. And the moment she walked through that door they were both going to die.

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**I would love to know what you think. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Castle and the other characters.**

**Here is chapter three. I would've posted earlier, but the game between Brazil and Chile prevented me from doing so.**

** Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it.**

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"What have you found?" Alexis asked starting to panicked when she saw Beckett's face

"I think it will be better if you tell me what you've found first" Beckett decided, starting to recover from the shock caused by what she had found.

"OK! Look at those marks," began Alexis, "It looks like another car pushed my father's car off the road purposely. And, looking at the size of the tire tracks and the distance between them, it seems as if the car was big, like a truck or something. It wasn't an accident after all."

"Yeah, I figured it too. There is a smell of fuel in the burned car. And it's not coming from the car itself. Someone started the fire after getting Castle out of it. I'll call CSU and ask them to process those marks and search by the car's model," added Kate, already picking up her phone.

While Kate was in the phone with CSU, Alexis couldn't help feeling a little more hopeful. They were finding clues that could lead to where her dad was and to who had he caught. However, the look on Beckett's face before prevented her to start celebrating her dad's rescue. "What the hell had she found?" she thought while she walked in circles looking to nowhere, "It was probably something serious. I know Kate Beckett. And she doesn't get scared easily." Her cogitation was interrupted by Kate, who had finished her call and was coming back to where Alexis was.

"So, I called CSU and they were already in their way. Ryan or Espo probably called them after we left." Beckett's voice was calm, but Alexis could tell that it was faked. She knew Kate was forcing herself to remain calm for her. "Anyway, we must wait for them so we can tell them what we need."

"So… what do you…" Alexis tried to ask Kate what she had found once again.

"What do I think?" Kate concluded the question for her. "Well, analyzing these marks, based on my experience in scenes like that, I can tell for sure that he was followed for a while, probably since he got in the car, and…"

"When he was approaching that bend in the road, the driver accelerated and pushed him out of the road," added Alexis unable to refrain herself.

"Castle was unconscious…"

"Or maybe dizzy…"

"And whoever abducted him took advantage of that to tie him up," her voice failed in the word "whoever", what made Alexis think that maybe Kate knew who did it and she was too terrified to share with her

"And then he or she threw in in the trunk of the car"

"It was weird. I usually build theories with Castle," Beckett smirked

"Yeah, I've heard of that synchrony between you two," Alexis smiled, remembering the case she worked with her dad and almost forgetting that she needed to ask Kate to tell her what she had found on the car. "So… what have you found? You didn't tell me yet"

"Oh, yeah, that" Kate couldn't find a way to tell what she had found. So she was trying to make Alexis forget. But apparently it didn't work. It was too terrifying and she knew Alexis had already discovered that. She wasn't managing to hide her desperation.

"Kate, please tell me. I need to know."

Kate figured that there was no escape. She needed to tell her. "Well, actually I found three things," Beckett started, biting her lower lip in a nervous way, "They were all outside the car. Everything inside was burned. The first thing I noticed was his phone dropped in the ground, near to the driver's door," she gave the phone to Alexis.

"Did you find something strange in the phone?"

"No, nothing unusual, but I think we should keep it so we can return it to him"

"Sure, he loves this phone" smiled Alexis

"Yeah, he really does" Beckett agreed with her "The next thing I found was this discarded needle. I think he was probably drugged," she gave to Alexis the bag with the needle inside.

"So that's how they managed to take him to the other car. They put my dad asleep".

"Yeah!" Kate hesitated. The last object was the one that almost made her panicked. She didn't know how Alexis would react to it.

"And… what's the last thing you found?"

Kate took a deep breath to calm down before answering that question "I found this," she took something out of her pocket and gave to her.

"What is this? A rope? Why is this so important? Why were you so panicked? It's nothing that worth panicking. It just clarifies with what he was tied up." Alexis didn't understand why Kate was so terrified. It was just a green and white nylon cord. There was nothing special about it.

Beckett took another deep breath, this time to prevent the tears to fall from her eyes. "Alexis, this is his old M.O." she said with a shaky voice.

"I…I don't understand."

Kate hoped Alexis would recognize the rope and, as long as she didn't, Beckett was trying to say that number and that two letters but she couldn't. If she said it out loud she would make it true. She would've to recognize that Castle was right, that he wasn't dead, that he was back and that he had abducted the man of her life.

"Alexis," began Kate, feeling the tears she was holding running down her face, "It is 3XK M.O. Jerry Tyson is back and he abducted your father. Rick was right. He didn't die when he fell from that bridge" she was trying to calm herself again. "He left us this. He wanted us to know that it was him who did it."

"3XK? The guy who killed all those women, the guy that almost sent my dad to jail and murdered the man who looked like Esposito and the woman that looked like Lanie?" Alexis couldn't believe. This guy was crazy and he was the one that had caught her dad?

"Yes" said Kate in an almost inaudible whisperer.

"Oh, my God, Kate. What are we going to do?" Both women were crying now.

"We will go and find him," Kate exclaimed after a couple minutes when she managed to calm herself enough to say something. "I am not giving up on him."

* * *

Castle was left alone for what seemed a long time. But an hour or just a minute could have passed. He wasn't able to tell precisely. His body was aching. His muscles were getting tense due to lack of circulation. He was unable to stretch his arms and legs. The rope was immobilizing him. He was forcing himself to concentrate on anything but the pain. "C'mon Castle. Every pain is just a psychological thing. It's not real. Your brain is making it up to confuse you," he thought, "You need to get out of here alone. You can't let that insane guy bring Kate here. And when you get out you will teach her how to play laser tag with you. Oh, my God. I'm going crazy. I'm talking to myself in the third person. I'll get out of here and they will put me into a mental institution."

These nonsensical ramblings continued until he started to try and move his hands to the front of his body what took all of his concentration to be accomplished. He was starting to celebrate when he saw with what he was tied up: that green and white nylon cord. The same kind he used to kill in the past. "He is definitely sending a message. He is saying without words he will do with me the same he did to those girls."

In that moment he heard steps once more. His heart accelerated. He knew he was coming. The sound of footstep grew louder and louder. Tyson was slowly approaching. Castle heard another noise. A chair being dragged across the floor. "Excellent! He is planning to stay longer," he thought with sarcasm.

"What are you doing here?" asked Castle before Jerry could say anything.

"Do I need a reason? I was feeling lonely. I sent my girl home," answered 3XK with that annoying smile in his face. He sat so as to come face to face with Castle.

"Oh, so that creepy doctor was here?" it confirmed his feeling that a woman had given him the injection.

"Sure. But now it's just you and me," said he with a mysterious voice.

Castle decided that his best option was to keep Tyson talking for as long as possible "Why did you send her home? You are bringing Beckett here, aren't you? We could have a double date."

"Well, I didn't want anyone messing up my fun with you and your girl," enunciated Tyson, ignoring the last part of Rick's speech.

"Oh, don't be silly. She wouldn't mess up with our fun. The more the merrier" said Castle as if everything was just a conversation between two friends.

"I've been planning this day for a long time," began 3XK, once more ignoring everything Castle said, "I watched you. I found out when would be the wedding. I looked into Beckett's life and found out she was already married. I found out where Rogan lived. I organized his kidnapping. Everything that happened with you two in the last three days was because of me." Tyson said, with a maniac look in his face.

"Everything led you to that road. Everything I planned aimed that moment. That moment when you were alone in that road. And I could finally begin my revenge," continued Tyson. He was getting really excited by now. "And now all I need to do is wait for that detective to come here with the help. I will give her help. Actually, I think she is already investigating your kidnapping. My girl will let me informed," laughed Jerry.

Castle became increasingly terrified. This guy had a psychotic obsession with him. He would do everything to turn his life into a living hell. And he understood he would have no peace until Tyson was arrested.

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**Please let me know if you liked it. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Castle and the other characters (Officer Robben is fruit of my imagination)**

**Well, after a writer's block that lasted a week, I finally managed to write this chapter. **

**I hope you enjoy it.**

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Alexis and Beckett were sitting in a tree trunk roadside. They hadn't spoken since CSU got there, when they said what needed to be done. They were there for almost an hour now, looking everywhere and processing everything. A mobile lab, with all they needed to process the scene had been assembled there. It was an effort for everything to be resolved quickly.

"It wasn't supposed to take so long, was it?" asked Alexis getting increasingly impatient.

"Calm down," said Beckett, who was not feeling calm, "They are probably finishing it by now."

She had just said those words when an officer approached to talk to them. "Who is detective Beckett?"

"I am," answered Beckett. She and Alexis immediately stood on their feet.

"I'm officerRobben," said him shaking Kate's hand, "I've some information to give to you. We've search for prints in the needle, but we didn't find any. However, we were able to find the car's model."

"Oh, great!" exclaimed Alexis.

"But it wasn't all," continued officer Robben, "After we determined the car's model, we looked into all footages on traffic cameras where Caste could've been, starting by the ones in the street where we knew he went first."

"And…" Beckett said when he stopped to catch a breath.

"And we found this," continued Robben. He gave Kate photograph of a frozen footage. It showed Castle's car being followed by a big black car.

"They were still in Manhattan. It wasn't far from where he was," commented Kate. "Were you able to look at the car plate?"

"Well, we needed to follow the cars through the footages, but, after some blocks, a camera finally allowed us to see the plate." He gave Kate another paper, this one with the plate number.

"Did you search for the owner?" asked Alexis

"Yes, we did. It's listed to a Walter Matthews, but he reported a robbery two days ago."

"So we have no idea who was driving that car," Beckett mentioned feeling hopeless.

"No, but we looked at the footages that were recorded by cameras in the entrance of Manhattan in the minutes after you've lost touch with Castle. We manage to find the car once again. Then we kept looking until we discovered where they stopped," he gave an image of an old factory to Beckett. "This is the place"

"Thank you officer Robben, you and your team helped a lot." Robben nodded and went back to where his team was packing their stuff. "I've been there before with Castle. We were working in the ninja case. It was a cookie factory," said Beckett when they were alone. "I need to make a call, wait here a minute," she gave the picture to Alexis and picked up her phone.

Alexis nodded and looked to the picture of the factory. She was having trouble believing they had found the place. She thought she wouldn't see her dad again but now she knew Kate would go and rescue him.

She put the photo away and looked to the other evidences lying in the tree trunk. Her eyes turned toward the nylon cord and almost all her hope faded. This guy was dangerous. "How are we supposed to do it?" she thought still looking at the cord. This time Alexis saw something among the fibers of the rope. She took it off of the evidence bag and examined it more closely. It was a piece of paper with a single sentence on it. She didn't understand what that meant to the case but it was probably something important because this guy was meticulous.

Beckett was finding it all too easy. "Tyson doesn't leave evidence. Everything always happens in his terms," Kate thought, remembering Castle's words. She was sure it was a trap but what else could she do? She couldn't call for backup because it would alert Tyson for their arrival. And she couldn't take Alexis with her either. It would be too dangerous and Castle would kill her if she put his little girl in danger. So she called Ryan and asked him to come for Alexis.

When she hung up the phone and went back to where Alexis was. She found her still looking to the paper. "What are you looking?" Beckett asked.

"Kate I found a paper in the rope. There is something written on it. 'We'll meet again.' What does that mean?"

Beckett froze. Those lyrics again. Tyson was teasing her with that music. The last time she heard it, it was in a USB drive that was given by Tyson's girlfriend. "It's an old song. It's nothing," she answered. Kate stopped to catch a breath before saying anything else. "Alexis, you need to go back to the Hamptons. I can't put you in danger."

"We are not having this conversation again Kate. I'm going with you," determined Alexis.

"Look, Alexis, you already helped me a lot. I can see you are you father's daughter, but I need to go there alone. This guy will try and kill everyone that shows up in that factory and I don't want this to happen to you. Ryan is coming here. Meanwhile Robben will keep you company," said Kate calling the officer with a hand gesture and going toward her car.

"Kate no, please, no," Alexis begged, tears in her eyes. She tried to go after Kate, but Robben prevented her from doing so.

"I'm sorry Alexis. Please understand why I have to do it," said Kate when she saw Alexis crying, "I promise I'll save your dad at any cost."

Beckett started driving to the factory and, alone in her car, she couldn't stop thinking that all the progress she had made in her relationship with Alexis was probably gone. The young woman would hate her after that. But now it wasn't the time to worry about that. She had a rescue to do. She knew the place and it would have been an advantage if Tyson didn't know about that. But he knew or else he would not choose this specifically factory. It was an almost empty place, but she thought she could enter there unnoticed. It was her specialty after all.

Kate drove nonstop. All that kept her going was the thought of seeing Castle again. She tried to build a plan in the way, but it wasn't that easy. Every plan she made up had a lot of failures. So she decided she would improvise. Just as she always did with Castle. But this time she would do it without her partner.

* * *

3XK and Castle were staring to each other for a long time. No one seemed to want to talk. It was just a game of silence to see who would back off first, to see who would give up. Tyson still had that sarcastic smile in his face. He looked confident. He knew Castle couldn't win. On the other hand Castle had a stern look on his face. His expression was challenging.

All of a sudden, their game was interrupted by a phone ring. "Oh, I need to take this call. Do you mind?" Tyson asked. He stood up and answered the phone.

Castle strained his ears to listen to the conversation that was going on in the corner of the room.

"Everything is going as planned… Yeah! He is still here… Of course I didn't kill him… Yes, we are waiting for detective Beckett… I know… I'll keep following the plan." 3XKhung up the phone and stood still for a moment.

"That was the weirdest phone conversation I've ever heard. Tyson used to lead plans. He was always the one on charge. He had everything under his control. But this time it seems like he is following someone else's orders. And if I'm not crazy he looks like he is afraid. Jerry Tyson never gets afraid. It doesn't make any sense. What's really going on here? And who is so dangerous that manages to scare Tyson?" Castle was starting to create the wildest theories he could imagine when were interrupted by the arrival of Tyson. He resumed his place in the chair in front of Rick.

"Well, it seems like our time together is ending. Beckett is already on her way. Now we just need to wait a few more minutes," he sat in his chair and resumed his silence game with Castle.

However, Castle was not paying attention this time. He was looking at Tyson but he wasn't showing the same determination as before. "Beckett is coming for a suicide mission. She'll break the door down and Tyson will be ready. He is waiting for her. He will kill Kate in front of me and I will not be able to stop him.

All of a sudden, the ongoing game that was being played only for 3XK was interrupted. A deafening noise came from the outside and everything was blurry. Nothing seemed real. Castle felt a blow to his head. And all went black.

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**Let me know what you think. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Castle's characters are not mine but I love play with them.**

**I'm sorry I haven't updated it lately but my school is back after the World Cup Vacations (as we called it in Brazil) and I'm getting a little tired because of the classes.**

**But here is it. The last chapter of my first Fanfiction.**

* * *

Beckett parked the car in front of the factory. It took her twenty minutes to arrive there but it seemed over an hour to her. She knew every minute counted when it was about Tyson. He could do something completely unexpected anytime. However, when she saw her destiny for the first time, she thought she might not be able to help Castle. She almost gave up and called for backup.

She didn't call for backup simply because she didn't intend to put anyone else in danger not even her partners, trained cops. It was bad enough having Castle in danger. And that's why she couldn't give up. Castle. She needed him. She wanted him by her side. He was her one and done after all.

Kate took a moment to think. Now that she was there and that rescuing mission was real she really needed a plan. She was cheating herself. She couldn't go there without a plan. It would be a suicide mission if she did. She repassed what she knew about the building. "I know there are a principal room and a second hidden behind an elevator door. This second one was the ninja lair. It was closed the first time we went there, but I'm sure CSU left it unlocked when they finished processing the room. I need to have a peek inside the factory. This way I will know where he's keeping Castle," she thought.

She took one last deep breath before opening the car's door. She walked toward the factory door. It was ajar and Kate knew it was probably a bad sign. 3XK wanted her to be able to enter in the building without many efforts. But that was her best opportunity to see without being seen by whoever was there.

Beckett looked through the ajar door. And when she saw what was happening there she had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop a cry out. Castle was there. But also was 3XK. Her fiancé was sitting on a bed that was standing in the corner opposite to the fake elevator door. And in front of him, sitting on an old officer chair, was Jerry Tyson. They were looking to each other. She couldn't see Tyson's face but she knew it probably had a crazy and sarcastic look. His posture was confident. The weirdest part was the look on Rick's face. She could see him clearly and she knew that look. It was fear. But it wasn't the kind of fear anyone would notice. He wasn't afraid for himself. He was afraid that something was going to happen happen to someone he loved.

If she hadn't seen it before she wouldn't recognize it. He had that look on his face when he was looking at her after her shooting, saying that he loved her. He had that look on his face when they realized she wasn't safe and Bracken was going after her. He had that look on his face when they met each other after Vulcan Simons tortured her. He had that look on his face when he met her at the swings when she was a fugitive. He always had that expression when he knew he was in danger or had passed through something that hurt her. He was afraid for her. He was facing a serial killer and he was afraid for her. She wanted to get in there and tell him that she loved him. But she couldn't. Not right now.

Beckett walked away from the door. She knew she couldn't get in the factory through that door. The better way to get inside was through a window she knew the hidden room had. But she needed a distraction and she knew exactly what to do. She went to her car and opened the trunk. She kept there everything that all cop needed to have but almost never used: knife, tear gas bomb, protection glasses, hearing protection, helmet with display for especially dangerous missions, spare tire, screwdriver… wait, she had already found what she needed, so why was she still looking at the messy trunk? She shook her head, decrying her lack of attention and took what she needed.

He went once again to the front door and positioned the tear gas bomb there. She knew it had a huge reach for own experience. When she was a rookie she needed to detonate this kind of bomb to contain a bunch of vandals and she thought she was at a safe distance when she detonated it. But she wasn't. It was one of the biggest mistakes she made in her entire career. The sound of the explosion made her cover her ears and a few seconds after that the gas reached her eyes and she started to cry. The vandals would've escaped if her old partner hadn't taken the correct precautions. So she knew for sure the gas would spread throughout the building. Castle would be affected by it too but it was the best plan she could make. Besides, nothing permanent would happen to him. A lot of water in the eyes would solve everything.

She programmed it to explode in three minutes and positioned herself in front of the window of the ninja's lair. She put all the protections she missed in the first time she did it and wielded her gun. Her breath was heavy and fast. She couldn't hear anything but the fast beat of her heart because of the hearing protection. Her protection glasses were starting to blur.

And then she heard it. The distant sound of an explosion, a lot lower than it should be. And she entered the room. There was smoke everywhere (she had not thought of that). She took of the hearing protector and, guided by the sound of screams of pain coming from the other room, she managed to get there.

It was a pandemonium. Tyson was on his knees crying loud and covering his eyes. Castle was lying in the floor, but he wasn't moving. She headed towards Castle. Her eyes were full of tears. And when she checked his pulse and realized he was alive she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. A weight seemed to come out of your heart. It had been there all the time, since she saw his burning car.

When she figured Castle was going to be ok she went to where Tyson was crying in agony and finally cuffed him. However, a tear came out of her eye. It was almost a copy of the one she let out in the week before. This serial killer had caused them a lot of pain, not as much pain as Bracken had caused to her, but 3XK almost got close. This was one of the best arrests she ever made, only behind the arrest of her mother's murder.

She forced 3XK to stand on his feet, and walked towards Castle once again. Still holding Tyson's arms, forcing him to remain stuck where he was, Beckett dropped on her knees for the second time that day. And once again she was crying. But this time it wasn't because she thought she had lost him. This time she was crying with relief because Castle was waking up.

"Hey," she said when he opened his eyes. She cut off all the ropes that were tying him.

"Hey," he answered, "you came to save me."

"Of course I did. I've already told you Rick. I'm not letting you out of our engagement that easily," grinned Kate

Castle smiled widely and, for the first time since he opened his eyes, he took his eyes out of Kate and looked to the man standing next to her. His eyes were red, but he still had that crazy look on his face. He wasn't saying anything, but he didn't need. His eyes were saying that he didn't want nothing more than kill everybody. "You arrested him," exclaimed Castle looking back to Kate, "How did you do that without getting both of us killed? And how the hell did you know I was here? Our connection is getting even better. So now you can tell where I am when I am not by your side? Can I do that too?" he was getting really excited in a very Castle way.

"Babe, babe, stop. Easy," giggled Beckett, remembering the first time she said she found his excitement cute, "I'll tell you everything if you tell me all that happened to you. But we need to get out of here. Our guests are still waiting for us and we need to make a stop at the precinct to let this psychopath there. C'mon, can you stand?" Beckett asked already helping him with one hand.

"I'm fine. I just heard a terrible noise and when I tried to stand and run those things prevented me from doing so and I fell and hit my head in the edge of the bed made of wood. I think I fainted. When I woke up I saw you and the first thing I thought was that I was dead and I went to heavens. And that's when I felt you cutting the ropes and I realized that I couldn't be dead," Castle told while they were walking towards her car.

Beckett threw 3XK in the backseat of the car and went to her driver's seat beside Castle. During the drive to the precinct, Castle told Beckett what had happened to him, including his worries that Tyson wasn't in charge of the kidnapping and that he thought it was really odd. When they arrived to the precinct ten minutes later, they let Tyson there in custody of a trustworthy detective. The sight of Tyson's arrest made Castle and Beckett feel free. They would finally have some kind of peace.

Kate hugged Rick and kissed him passionately. She didn't care if they were at the precinct. She needed it. And she knew he needed it too. When they split up due to shortness of breath he looked to her showing all his love. "I love you," she said with a lovely smile on her face.

"I love you too," he affirmed with an ever bigger smile, "C'mon, let's go back to our wedding. I think we might be a little late." He put an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the elevator, "And you can tell me what happened to you in our way."

"Well, it's a long story. I think I'm going to need more than this little trip to the Hamptons to tell you everything."

"That isn't a problem," he answered when the elevator doors closed, "We will have a lot of time in the plane to our honeymoon."

Beckett giggled and snuggled into his chest, smiling against his neck.

* * *

Even with everything that happened to them, it was the best day of their lives. Their wedding was perfect. When Rick saw Kate walking down the aisle with her dad, wearing that beautiful wedding dress his eyes shone with tears and a big smile appeared on his face. The same thing happened to Kate when she saw Castle waiting for her. And no one was sure who cried more (Rick or Kate) when they read their vows to each other. Coincidentally or not, both their promises ended up with the word "always" and a whispered "I love you".

They exchanged rings and even though Kate already had her engagement ring, Castle gave her another one, much simpler but no less beautiful, for her to wear at work. This way everybody would know she was his. Their rings had an identical recording on the inside with the date of their wedding and their favorite way to telling "I love you", their promise to each other that their love would never end, their word: "always".

When they shared their first kiss as wife and husband everybody clapped the couple. All their closest friends started to cry because of the emotion of seeing them finally beginning their life together.

After the ceremony, they danced their first dance together. And as they spun around the dance floor they whispered love words to each other, telling how much they were happy for being there with the person they loved the most. When the song ended, Castle danced with Alexis and Kate danced with her dad. So it really was a father-daughter dance. For both of them.

The party continued in full swing until late in the night, when Rick reminded Kate they needed to go and catch their private plane to the private island where they would spend their honeymoon. They would have a three weeks trip to enjoy each other and their marriage.

They changed their clothes, packed their bags and went to airport in Kate's car. They were supposed to go in Rick's car but as long as it was completed destroyed they needed to change their plans. Even though it was her car, she let Castle drive and enjoyed the trip.

When the flight started, Kate snuggled into Rick's chest and softly kissed his neck. "I can't believe we are actually going to have our honeymoon. You were right. We will have our happy ending after all," she giggled

"Hey, I knew we would. Our story is too wonderful. It was written in the stars that we would have a happy ending," he said and kissed her temple.

They didn't talk much after that. They just kept their embrace and enjoyed each other's presence. Everything they said wasn't said with words. It was said with their eyes and lovely touches. They never needed words to communicate with the other. And they would never need during all their always.

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**Please let me know what you think. I'm loving this review thing and ****it's really cheering me up.**


	6. Epilogue

**Castle is not mine.**

**Surprise! You though it was over right? But here I'm with a very small epilogue!**

**Enjoy ;-)**

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A week after Castle and Beckett's wedding Ryan was walking to see how 3XK was going. He made it his personal task. He still blamed himself for Tyson's escape almost four years before. He tried to talk to him, but he never answered any of his questions. And he would keep going there day after day until he received some answers if he could. But it was his last chance. Tyson would be transferred to jail later that day.

When he reached the cell's area he knew something was wrong. The guard that should be on shift wasn't there. Ryan started to run and when he arrived to Tyson's cell he knew everything was gone. He wasn't going to receive his answers. Tyson had foam coming out of his mouth which suggested he was poisoned. Ryan called Lanie. They would need a M.E. for sure.

XXX

Ryan accompanied Lanie to the morgue. He needed some answers. Meanwhile, Esposito was going to watch footages of the security cameras to look for their killer.

"It was going to take some time. You know, right?" asked Lanie when they were in their way.

"I know. I'm going to wait Lanie. If that's okay."

"It's fine. If you like to wander around a room full of dead bodies."

Ryan spent the next couple of hours waiting for Lanie to finish with the body. And when she said she was done and she had discovered important things he almost ran into the room. "What have you found?" he gasped.

"Well, I don't know a good way to tell you that so I'm going to the point. This guy isn't Tyson."

Ryan almost had a heart attack. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked with his mouth wide open.

"I've looked into this guy's prints even though I knew every file about Tyson was gone. So I wasn't expecting anything but this guy has a record indeed. His name is Eric Ridley and he has some charges because of an assault to a woman. It happened last year. I have a photo of him back them," clarified Lanie. She gave a photo of a man to Ryan but the guy on the photo didn't look as the one lying on the table.

"Are you sure it's him?"

"Of course I'm sure. And I'm also sure that this guy underwent several plastic surgeries to become like Tyson."

"Same as those two who looked like you and Esposito. Why would someone do that?" Ryan's phone started ring and answered it. "Ryan!"

"Bro, I think I know who killed Tyson," Esposito voice reached the other end of the call; "It was that creepy doctor. Tyson's girlfriend. Why would she kill her boyfriend after cleaning everything we had on him? It doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, it makes all sense. That guy wasn't Tyson. Lanie have just told me this guy's name was Eric Ridley and someone made him look like 3XK. It was the doctor. She is trying to keep Tyson's legacy alive like Beckett said last year."

"Maybe Tyson is still alive and he commanded the whole operation. Maybe Castle is right and he is still alive."

"We need to find that doctor Espo. She is the only one who can answer our questions."

Esposito agreed with Ryan even though both of them knew they wouldn't find her. They knew she was as evil as Tyson. It didn't matter if Tyson and Dr. Nieman were together or if she was alone: they would never have the answers they needed.

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**Now it's really over. Let me your review.**


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